[Closed] Small digital camera

gopro or gopro-type thing?

gopro or gopro-type thing?

I know nothing about them. Do they do stills as well?

Apologies for the ignorance....

An Iphone is probably the right answer.

Just delete the apps that are complicating your life.

Back when the Internet was in black and white, Canon Ixus was the go-to pocket camera. I've had a couple, they're great. Not waterproof, but you can get underwater cases for them.

An Iphone is probably the right answer.

Just delete the apps that are complicating your life.

Still not waterproof, but this is a compelling argument. The iPhone camera has always been pretty competent, a mate of mine has a large landscape print on his wall that came from an iPhone.

Ricoh and Panasonic both do decent compact waterproof cameras, seems to be what most kayak/raft/SUP instructors use. You then need to complicate your life by taking out the card and plugging it in to a computer in order to view them properly or share.

All considerably more chunky though than an iPhone 7 onwards, all of which are plenty waterproof enough to put in a bag on a rainy day.

You then need to complicate your life by taking out the card and plugging it in to a computer in order to view them properly or share.

Back in the Ixus world, I just used to plug a USB cable into the camera and press the blue button. No card-swapping necessary. If that's too much of a hassle (bloody millennials, or something) you can get Wi-Fi enabled SD cards these days (and one would assume, Wi-Fi capable cameras even).

Waterproof probably doesn't mean underwater but more likely IP6x which many newer phones are rated at.

http://www.dsmt.com/resources/ip-rating-chart/

A GoPro can do stills. Though quite basic, not many manual options. And it is a very wide angle lens, maybe good for selfies, but the fisheye distortion can look weird.

Or a Sony RX0. It has more manual options, and probably better image quality than a GoPro. And a less wide lens. Though more complicated interface.

Yes, just about all cameras have wifi built in. Though means you have to use their app, which may be rubbish. Usually quicker and easier just to plug it into a computer.

I did this as I found I was always reaching for my phone to look at and waste time for no reason, I appreciate this is a self control issue but it was easier to take it out of the picture. I am happier without the iphone if that helps.

I wasn't fussed about a waterproof camera I have a Panasonic Lumix TZ70 for carrying around and it is wifi enabled for syncing with laptop or a phone if you want I would assume the waterproof ones are as good in this regard.

Going from a phone to a camera makes things an order of magnitude more complex. Stick with the phone.

Gopro does stills, can also be set to just keep taking stills until you tell it to stop (about 10 still/sec I think). You can't control the zoom though, you set it to normal or wide and that's about it.
Ordinary camera in a waterproof bag?

Not waterproof but very small and a big zoom, this is what I use.

https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-hx99-camera-4k-ultra-hd-18-2mp-28x-optical-zoom-wi-fi-bluetooth-nfc-oled-evf-3-inch-tilting-touch-screen/p3813205

Fuji have refurbed XP120/130 available for very affordable prices , not the best but definitely worth a look at for the prices - proper waterproof tough and small.

Say a person was really wanting to simplify their life, starting with disposing of their iPhone

It is the opposite of simplifying. If I got rid of my iPhone I would require;
Small camera
Bike GPS unit that can upload to Strava
Car GPS unit
Phone of some sort for making phone calls/texting

And they are just the immediate things I can think of.

kerley

Member

Say a person was really wanting to simplify their life, starting with disposing of their iPhone

It is the opposite of simplifying. If I got rid of my iPhone I would require;
Small camera
Bike GPS unit that can upload to Strava
Car GPS unit
Phone of some sort for making phone calls/texting

That was how I viewed it for a long time but it is all about perspective

I enjoy using a small camera with manual controls and a viewfinder and zoom etc, it is more fun and I take time to compose pictures more
Bike GPS, I know where I am going so I have always seen this as a gadget and of no practical benefit. I am probably not ambitous enough but when you live and ride in the lakes and dales and know the area well it is maybe less of an issue than for some.
Car GPS I travel a lot but only need this a couple of times a year so the iphone 7 now lives in the car and is used with navFree
Phone Nokia which needs charging once a week

I need to upload photo's but I now use RAW processing more but then I am saving over 7 hours per week not staring at a phone for no apparent reason. As said for me it was the wasted time sucked up by an iphone that led me to change and maybe that is where the OP is coming from.

Car GPS I travel a lot but only need this a couple of times a year so the iphone 7 now lives in the car and is used with navFree

I can remember only too well the old days before car GPS - the arguments with MrsJ, the stress of driving up and down looking for the exit. TomTom saved my life.

Panasonic TZ61 for me.
Does Wifey downloads so no card faff.
Recharges without having to take a battery out
Has a GPS tagging thingy for the pictures
13mp images
Good manual control
Massive optical zoom range
Sits in a pouch on the chest strap of my bag and whilst nor waterproof is pretty rugged

Olympus Tough all the way, waterproof, works down to silly temperatures. Has a couple of interesting lens addons for zoom and macro flash. And best of all nigh on indestructible!

And even shoots in RAW!

My Sony A5000 just broke - four years old and it's had a very easy life. It's started refusing to turn on and completely losing power when it does, and it's very hard to charge, so I imagine a connection has broken somewhere. I looked at the price of the current version - more than 2X what I paid! (And I thought it was expensive back in 2015 at £233, though I knew I got a very good deal at the time)...

Anyway - my anecdotal advice would be don't get a Sony.

I'd say the most pocketable, convenient point and shoot camera these days is a phone. Just take the SIM card out and delete the WiFi connection if you don't want to waste time on other features.

I've thought about this, and for all practical purposes a mobile phone is about the perfect form factor for a dedicated, compact camera. If you wanted to get really simple, you could do without the screen, and make a very compact device (I'm thinking credit card sized, with quality comparable to high-end smartphones). However, the market for this would be tiny.

To those saying this doesn't simplify anything - if it's anything like me, the simplification comes from adjusting your lifestyle such that you don't need last-minute info at all times. It's not about making using the camera more simple.

take the SIM card out and delete the WiFi connection if you don’t want to waste time on other features.

Probably the best advice. Or work on self-control, which is where I struggle. Every once in a while, I clear all browser data on my phone, so that I get signed out of everything. It's a pain to sign back in, which helps me not waste so much time.

I did this as I found I was always reaching for my phone to look at and waste time for no reason, I appreciate this is a self control issue but it was easier to take it out of the picture. I am happier without the iphone if that helps.

This is me, completely. I am a man of little self-control, and can't really stop looking at the damned thing even when I'm with family. When I don't have it in my possession, I don't miss it at all, but when I have it with me, I'm easily distracted.

By "simplify", I suppose I don't mean "fewer devices"; I mean "separate devices for specific uses".

I already have a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for bike GPS and Strava, and a TomTom for the car. A dumb phone and a small digital camera would be just the thing, I think!

I've always had cheap contract phones with terrible cameras which got worse as the lens got more and more scratched.

I got a Fujifilm XP130. Compared with cheap phone it has a good zoom (optical not digital) and as mentioned earlier, it's waterproof to ten metres and will take a drop onto concrete of six feet IIRC. It doesn't do random things in the rain because the touchscreen is wet (it doesn't have a touchscreen). The card and USB connections arebeneath an unlockable waterproof door. The lens isn't covered which is a shame, and the pictures aren't great, but it's got everything I want for a quick snap.

Re data transfer, I'd rather remove the card than mess about with wifi or crappy bluetooth apps. Filesystems just work.

Camera for riding must be a tough/waterproof one, such as Olympus TG series.

You could put it in your jersey back pocket.

I've had a couple of the Fuji XPs. I love them as simple cameras but the lens cover scratches if you even so much as look at it rendering the whole thing unusable.

I'd say go for whatever Sony compact fits your budget with some sort of water resistant/proof case.

I think some 'dumb' phones also have cameras? Not sure how great they are mind.

I went through a phase of this. I always run/ride with flight mode on, but still end up stopping to take crap photos I'll never look at, to put on Instagram where no-one wants to see them. So I took a point and shoot film camera instead, at 6 quid a film plus developing it made me think twice about stopping and I ended up with nicer photos.
That said, still difficult to look past a mobile and a bit of willpower.

This is me, completely. I am a man of little self-control,

Probably why I don't get the simplification then as I am a man of immense self control. Far too much self control to the point of boring so not a great thing to have!

However, If I wanted loads of different devices, chargers, batteries etc,. to replace my iPhone I would have a Punkt phone tomorrow as they are beautifully designed.

Probably why I don’t get the simplification then as I am a man of immense self control. Far too much self control to the point of boring so not a great thing to have!

I am a man of focus.

Commitment.

Sheer will.

I once wrote a joke about three men in a bar.....with a pencil.

I used to often carry a Panasonic Lumix waterproof compact when I was biking or swimming in interesting places, before the iphone went waterproof. Served me very well and shot great pictures. Survived being run over by a motorbike too! The current one (DMC-FT30) seems to retail at around £119 which looks like great value

I've no particular recommendations for a camera (I've a cheapish Canon SX620 HS) but if I were buying now I'd be looking for one with a proper viewfinder (a lot of models ditch these as part of the size reduction).

I've had a number of instances in bright sunlight where I've been unable to see the LCD screen and it can be surprisingly difficult to frame a shot just by pointing the camera in roughly the right direction.

Olympus Tough, as above.

I can't recommend a camera but do agree with the idea. Back in days of yore when I carried cameras everywhere and did my own developing and printing, my photos were pretty good I reckon. I thought about every pic. Now they are shit and are good for nothing really except for a facebook image, but I rarely do that anyway. A phone is like a less-disposable, disposable camera.